cypripedium

[ sip-ruh-pee-dee-uhm ]

noun

any orchid of the genus Cypripedium, comprising the lady's-slippers.

Origin of cypripedium

1765–75; <New Latin, equivalent to Latin Cypri(a) Venus + -pedi--ped + -um neuter ending

Words Nearby cypripedium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cypripedium in a sentence

On the other hand, a double-flowered form is possibly in embryo, and before the next century closes the cypripedium acaule Ait.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899 | Various
But here I must be specific, and in truth cypripedium insigne Sanderae is not to be so described.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle
Every evening they brought in a load of orchids more or less valuable, but never cypripedium Curtisii.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle
cypripedium Curtisii was selling in London at the moment for many guineas—a small plant too.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle
A good many of them probably received commissions to find cypripedium Spicerianum.
The Woodlands Orchids | Frederick Boyle

British Dictionary definitions for cypripedium

cypripedium

/ (ˌsɪprɪˈpiːdɪəm) /

noun

any orchid of the genus Cypripedium, having large flowers with an inflated pouchlike lip: See also lady's-slipper
any cultivated tropical orchid of the genus Paphiopedilum, having yellow, green, or brownish-purple waxy flowers

Origin of cypripedium

C18: from New Latin, from Latin Cypria the Cyprian, that is, Venus + pēs foot (that is, Venus' slipper)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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